Hello Ed,
Regarding your Les Paul copies section on the site, There
are a few clones that stand out as “improved on” Les Paul's.
1) Yamaha Lord, Studio Lord
2) Burny, (Made in Japan for Japan market by Fernandes/ESP).
The new models have a Floyd Rose option and Sustainor
option.
3) Aria, they have several flavors including a three pick up
“Custom” like the Ace Frehley signature Paul.
4) Xavier from Guitar Fetish is a very inexpensive clone
that comes equipped with GFS pickups. I have two of the
Zemaitis clones and they play so much better than my last
Gibson. They sound better too!
5) And don’t forget “Orville”, the brand that Gibson builds
their own clones under in Japan. I see these selling on
E-bay at higher prices than the Tokai Love Rock. I will
never understand why Gibson sees it as ok to sell the
Orville line with the “mustache” headstock in Japan but not
let the Epiphone line sold in the U.S. have the “mustache”
headstock.

I really appreciate your honesty in addressing the absolute
ridiculous pricing from Gibson. I receive the Musician’s
Friend catalog and when it came last week I could not
believe my eyes when I noticed Gibson (and Fender) raised
their MSRP across the board. Both company’s must think their
customers are idiots and have more money than sense. Like I
am supposed to believe that a new non handmade Les Paul
Custom has an MSRP in excess of $5K. Then I am expected to
hurry up and buy it at the low low sale price of $3,900. And
the same story with Fender. I should hurry up and lay down
$1,500.00. for a new USA Stratocaster. Do these two giants
really believe they can dig out of a recession by raising
prices year over year? I live in Oklahoma City where Guitar
Center and MARS music (before going bankrupt), did a great
job of putting the local music stores out of business. So
now the only local option is Guitar Center. The sales guys
like to show me the Les Mauls and Blenders that they are
really proud of. I give them my honest opinion after one
chord strum and scale run. They don’t like how I point out
how bad the setup is or imperfections in fit and finish. But
it’s hard to even find a guitar in tune at guitar center. Oh
well I digress. One day I hope to place an order for your
Caligula model. What can I say, I love the 80’s Super Strat
look!

Thank You.

Erick Sanderson

Gibson Rant From Rich Petroni

Attention
Ed Roman-

I was in your store about 6 weeks ago and I
was very impressed with your selection of custom guitars.
I was not intending to buy anything,
I had read some negative comments on that
<"A hole" Gibson Forum> that had
swayed me away from doing any business with you.

I live in Alabama, Here in Podunk Alabama the
best guitars are Fender's & Gibson's. I'll bet your
surprised to hear that, huh? hee hee.

Most people around here are not well educated
and have never been to the big city. I know people who are in
their 50's and have never been outside of a 50 square mile
area their whole lives! I should have known better, I've been
to New York, LA & Vegas some of the farm boys around here have
never even been to Mobile or Montgomery yet they act like they
know all about guitars.

Your honest reporting and criticism on Gibson
Geetars is not making you a lot of friends here in bible
country! Yee Haw !

I understand now why these idiots don't like
you. By your outspoken truth you are in effect de valuating
their most valuable possession. I read your
flamer rant page and now my
awareness level has been heightened to a new level. Just as I
have had my eyes opened recently, I want to do all of my
guitar buying business with you from now on. I will do my best
to spread the gospel according to Ed Roman !

BTW I own about 15 guitars, I'm sad to say
many of them are Gibsons.
I can absolutely guarantee I will
never buy another one.

Anyway, I thought I had one of the best
guitars money can buy. A 2006 V.O.S Les Paul because I had
taken advice from some of my local redneck know nothing Gibson
loving friends. The V.O.S, guitar is an abomination and a very
overpriced abomination
it is.

Vile
Obscene
Shit would be a better
name!

The workmanship is so bad I almost can't believe it. I didn't
notice the plastic inlay on the neck and the glue marks
seeping out of the binding. The seam on the top of the guitar
looks like it's spreading. The guitar weighs a ton and it digs
into my right forearm when I play it.

Your salesman Stephan really opened my eyes, I
played your Maximus model and I must say the difference was
astounding, I really liked the Rick Turner Model one but the
Maximus is so much lighter and more comfortable. Stephan also
told me that actually you are a nice guy, He said you don't
compromise your feelings and your bark is worse than your
bite.

At this point I deeply hate all my Gibson Les
Pauls ! I want to trade them in towards a Maximus a
Quicksilver and an Avanti. After I looked at the comparisons
on these guitars I was totally sold. I realize I am going to
lose money on these Gibson's but I don't care, I want what I
want !!!!

I will be flying into Vegas Dec 10 and I will
be in town for 4 days, I would like to come out to the custom
shop and see the guitars being made, I really want to make
sure you are going to be around, because I want you to sign
all three guitars. Stephan told me that you would handle my
sale personally and I would like to make sure you are going to
be around.

Richard R. Petroni Esq.

Monroeville. Alabama

Some People Never Learn They Just
Keep Buying Gibson's !!!How many times do you have to
get hit on the head, before you finally figure out who's hitting
you.

Matt Molter to me
show details May 26 (11 days ago)

I just wanted to let you know that I bought a Gibson Les Paul
Standard that was supposedly 100% American made a few months ago at
the local Guitar Center. The piece of $hit was maybe 20% made in
America, probably just assembled. I took off the tuners because they
were locking up and wouldn't even tighten or loosen the string with
30 full turns to swap them with an old SG Reissue. I got the SG's
off and they felt much heavier than the LPs
(that happened to be glued on) and (here's the surprise) they were
made in Asia. For a supposedly quality USA made instrument I would
expect much better. To make it even worse, the SG's tuners wouldn't
even fit in the holes drilled in the LP. They even had the nerve to
put Gibson Deluxe on the back of thecrappy
import tuners. To make the Les Paul worse, the fingerboard is very
crappily sanded down, the bridge pickup went dead after a few weeks
and the strap button near the neck fell out of the hole. I did not
expect this since I had such a good experience with my SG.
To top it all off, when I called the Gibson Warranty Claims office,
they basically told me to f**k off. They acted like I had done
something wrong and when I hung up on them, I realized that I had.
That mistake was that I bought a Gibson from Guitar Center. From the
point I got the Les Paul, the only thing I ever bought at GC was a
bulk pack of strings. Both Gibson and Guitar Center have lost a
customer who has spent thousands of dollars at each company and
possibly would have spent several thousand more if his experience
had been better. Just thought you might like to hear some support
for what you're doing and you could add this to a rant about brand
loyalty or the $hitiness of Gibson. Keep doing what you're doing,

Matt Molter

Hi Stephan & Ed:

I
had wanted to contact you sooner, but really only got to spend some
time with JET #261 this past weekend.In short, the thing is absolutely amazing. It looks like it’s on
fire! Until I visited your shop last June and played a JET, I was
convinced I owned the greatest guitar in the world: My PRS Signature
#197. I had been looking for a single cutaway, solid body archtop
for a long, long time that would give me a fuller sound than my PRS
Signature, but I was completely unprepared for just how amazing the
JET was. I had been lusting over one ever since. Simply put, I
have never played anything like it in my 22 years since first
picking up the guitar. In addition to being one of the most
visually stunning instruments I have ever laid my eyes upon, the
sound and playability of the JET
are just
unreal. It is EXACTLY what I had been searching for: A better
player (amazing compound radius neck with satin finish) with an
extended bottom and top end from what the PRS offers.

It makes a
typical $5,000.00 Gibson Les Paul ’59 Reissue sound dead and dull by
comparison (not to mention 5 pounds lighter), The coil tap
option provides versatility that the Gibson can’t touch. I think
the single coil sounds are even truer than the PRS.

At any rate, I’m glad to finally be a paying customer of Ed Roman Guitars and can’t wait to come in and shop for another
fine instrument next time I am in Vegas.
Adam M. Zaiger

I'm surprised not to see any
mention of the intonation problems associated with USA made
Gibson guitars.On most Gibson electrics the
scale length from the nut to 12th fret is 24.562"

No problem with that...but the
scale length above the 12th fret is 24.75.That means OK intonation from the
nut to 12th fret (especially with
Buzz
Feiten Tuning System or similar), but really BAD intonation
above the 12th fret.At the 22nd fret, the error is
about 0.04". About half the width of the
Copies (including Epiphone) don't
have this fault.What do you think?Regards,
Phil HartleyHello Phil...

I'm not much of a Gibson
Fan myself, In fact I could go on about that for a long rant
!!!!
The reason I haven't said
anything about this in my rants is. Basically I didn't know
about it.

After I read your letter, I
do concur with your findings !!!!

I don't like the short
stubby necks, I don't like the fret size, I don't like rosewood
fretboards with plastic inlays (on supposedly American Guitars)
I never even got in as deep
as the tuning problem !!!

Ed

Based in Bolton, near Manchester, in the Northwest of
England, owner Phil Hartley is a well respected guitar repairer
and technician with many years of experience. During this time
the services of Phil Hartley Guitar Repairs have been used by
music shops throughout England.

As a former head of large retail guitar department and
through his many years as a guitar teacher, Phil Hartley has
gained first hand knowledge of the problems encountered by
guitarists of all abilities and budgets.

Whether your beginners’ guitar has developed a tuning
problem or you’ve worn away the frets on your guitar, you can
rest assured that each will receive the same level of care and
attention to make your guitar the best it can be.

All repairs are carried out by Phil Hartley. Work is never
subcontracted out nor is it ever assigned to a trainee or
apprentice.

Phil Hartley is an approved retrofitter of the Buzz Feiten
Tuning System. See the new
Buzz Feiten page for details of this revolutionary
intonation system

Read What Gibson Employees Are
Saying About Gibson
(Click Here)
If You Are A Gibson Employee Go To This Website & Tell The World
What The World Needs To Know

This of course is the primary reason I get bashed on the internet
I tell it like it is and I don't take prisoners !!!!
Ed Roman

Hey Ed,
This is Manny Pavone from Connecticut.
No doubt you remember me from the years when you had East Coast Music Mall and
even before that when you had the place one block up from the Music Guild.

I just wanted to tell you that I finally have
to agree with you about Gibson.

They ought to be freakin' ashamed of
themselves for putting out the Bull fertilizer they have been lately. I recently
went to a music store which will remain nameless and tried out a couple of the
new ES 335s.

One was a satin finished one and the other was
a tobacco sunburst dot neck. The satin finish one literally felt like a piece of
pressure treated 2X4 from Home Depot. I mean the neck was square on the
back!!!!!!! They wanted almost $2,000.00 for it. I was totally disgusted with
that so called guitar, so I tried out the $4,800.00 sunburst It felt like a
piece of 2X4 with a finish on it.

I was completely
appalled that Gibson would put out such garbage !!!!

Here's the kicker I then tried out an Ibanez 335 copy that was selling for $299
and it was 1000 times better. It felt like the Old Gibsons used to feel and
sounded incredible as well. Thanks for telling us the truth about Gibson back in
the day as much as some of us hate to admit it.
Good Luck From CT,
Manny Pavone

Even More Deprogramming From Ed
RomanPlease read what I have
written below with an open mind

There Are 2
Major Cliché's That Are No Longer True In The Guitar Business

1. You Get What
You Pay For!!!!

It's painfully obvious to me or to anyone who
is not intellectually challenged, today many large corporations, use
this tired old cliché to their financial advantage. They are
constantly pricing guitars at extremely high prices, so that
consumers will think they are actually handmade well built
instruments.

I first learned this fact back in 1991, I was
employed by Gibson Guitars. The president of Gibson, Henry
Juszkiewicz made this statement to me. "The
higher the price the better the guitar" "or at least that will be
the customers perception".

This may have backfired a little on him, due to
the fact that this artificial perception, that a production made
guitar has to be so expensive, has made it possible for custom
builders like, Myself, JET, Gledura, Benedetto, McPherson,
& Duesenberg to flourish. Simply because most intelligent
people, would rather have a custom guitar. Especially if they could
buy it for the same price or less than a machine made production
instrument.

2. It's Just Too Good To Be True!!!!

That's another Bulls&%t Cliché, "The Man" & all
the large corporations want to instill in your mind.
(Don't you believe that for even one second
!!!!!!!!)

A tribe isn't a tribe unless it has one Chief &
many Indians.

The Chief is nothing without
Indians!!

The question you must ask yourself your whole
life is "Am I A Chief, Or Am I An
Indian"

The Indian will believe the old
"It's too good to be true" adage and go
back to smoking his peace pipe. The Chief will just go for it There
lies the inherent difference.

Some people play original music, They
are known as innovators, Some people play only cover tunes,
In Vegas they are known as Lounge Bands.

Now that doesn't make these people bad people,
But it doesn't make them Chief's either !!!!
Hell, I like to play cover music myself, I do
it for fun !!!

Ed Roman

Monkey See Monkey Do
The monkey will play the same guitar as all the other monkeys will

Speaking Of Monkeys
Some of the big box stores pay their employees Peanuts
That's why they attract Monkeys

A Grouping of 24 fret Gibson Double Cutaway Les Pauls
One of the few Gibsons that I personally liked.
Of course they had to discontinue this model, It was too good !!!!
I never saw one of these break !!!!
Ed Roman

This is a collection of guitars that I have seen on the market that look like
Les Pauls
These copies have been around since the 60's When Gibson actually discontinued
the Les Paul for 8 or 9 years.
Bet you never saw a 1965 Les Paul. That's right they discontinued them
because they were not selling well.

Gibson & IBMHow many people do you know who own IBM Computers?
The first clones were weak but nowadays the clones are far better.
The Same Could Be Said For Gibson.

I am not going to mention brand names.
Hell why should I make it easier for Gibson to try and sue someone.

It stands to reason that if you want to sell something to someone who is already
brainwashed Into thinking the Les Paul is a wonderful guitar.

You are simply going to have to make a better instrument. Otherwise what
would be the point.

Vinnie Martell The Vanilla Fudge With A Les Paul Copy

Benedetto Benny Model

In The 90's Heritage guitars were far better than Gibsons,
Today I am sorry I can no longer say that
At least they are 100& made in the USA and it's not considered a corporate
guitar.

It still suffers from most of the Gibson design flaws

Group Of Heritage Brand Les Paul Clones or should I say "Originals"

Boris Dommenget Germany

This
is an original Gibson Les Paul that was built back in the 80's in
the USA.

We are refinishing this guitar, we are replacing the top with a
gorgeous piece of quilt for a good customer who was not happy with
the initial construction design of his instrument.

This will be the 4th one we are doing for him.

Contact Ed Roman's custom shop, We have done over 500 retops like
this one in the past 20 years since we started doing this type of
work.

There are several other shops that are doing retops these days.
Ask them to show you pictures of how many they have actually done.

Ed Roman was doing Gibson retopping for 15 plus years before
anybody attempted to copy us to our best knowledge.

702.875.4552

Paul Stanley Redesigns The Les Paul & Does A Better Job Than
Gibson

Gibson Howard Roberts Tailpieces.

We have a limited amount of these tailpieces, they are no
longer being manufactured. Please call to order.

The regular stock Les Paul back is too bulky & adds too much
weight and prevents you from reaching the high notes.

It's very uncomfortable
because of the sharp edges and the weight factor. The lighter the wood the
more resonant the guitar.

Traditionalists will always want the stock guitar. Personally I'm a fan of breaking all traditions, nothing is sacred least of
all some antiquated design that was copied directly from a Jazz style guitar
designed in the 30's and got
popular for all the wrong reasons...

I don't want to go off on a rant here but
it's just my way to challenge anything authority & challenge tradition. Call
Me A Rebel...

I am currently working on a neck through model with hard-mounted pickups and
a narrower headstock which are all vast improvements. but even with those
improvements the guitar does not stand up to some of the more modern well
thought out designs.

No matter what you do to this the neck joint is always
gonna be wrong and the pickups are placed in the wrong position. No matter
what anyone says, I believe an intelligently designed electric guitar should be
24 frets and 25" scale.

Even Les Paul
himself knew it. So he designed the 1961 SG neck thru body guitar to replace it.

When Gibson opted to make it a glue on neck instead, Les
Paul had his name taken off the model because he did not want his name
associated with yet another Gibson blunder.

Les Paul was an anti traditionalist just
like me.. in fact he designed the first neck thru guitar.. however Gibson opted
to make them glue on necks. I DON'T LIKE TOO MANY GUITARS WITH GLUED ON NECKS...
they block all the high end from the neck reaching the pickups. My website
lists many corroborated stories on this subject..

Ed Roman is always
willing to listen to opposing views as long as they are based on physics and not
on emotion. In fact if someone can make any
sense out of the design I will be the first to admit I was wrong.